Starvation
by hufflepuff4ever93
Summary: What if the Weasley's were caught sneaking out to rescue Harry, what would have happened? Who would have come to Harry's rescue?
1. Chapter 1

Prologue.

Splat! The cake fell onto Mrs. Mason's head. Everyone turned to stare at Harry, who was staring in transfixed horror at the spot where Dobby had disappeared. Vernons piggy black eyes stared furiously into the skinny, small 12 year old boy.

"I'm so sorry. It's my nephew, he's very disturbed, we keep him upstairs." At this time, Vernon and Petunia could have salvaged the night if it weren't for the owl that had flown in over Mrs. Masons head. Mr. Mason had thought that this was some cruel joke played on his wife who was terrified of owls, even though Petunia had pleaded tearfully with the two, they still left the house in a rush. After the Masons stormed out, Vernon thrust the letter at Harry

"Go on boy, read it!" Vernon said viciously. With trembling fingers Harry took it.

Trembling Harry tried to rip up the letter, but Uncle Vernon took it from him. Harry knew that Vernon would take advantage of this opportunity to punish him, most likely take away meals. Harry looked frantically around for a way to do something. He noticed that on Vernon's belt, there was a ring of keys, one of which was for the padlock he had put on Hedwig's cage. Harry figured that Dobby wouldn't allow letters through, but maybe he wouldn't stop Hedwig from reaching Ron's house. At age 8 he had learnt how to pickpocket (a situation involving Mrs Figg, her cats and a broken toy soldier). Harry took the key without anyone noticing.

"So! Not allowed to do magic eh? You are never going back to that school boy" Vernon asked, eyes glittering maliciously. With that, Vernon grabbed Harry by the scruff of his neck and thrust him into Dudley's second bedroom, locking Harry in. Harry knew he wouldn't have much time before Vernon would be back, most likely with the cane Aunt Marge had once gotten Harry for his birthday as a cruel joke. Harry practically flew over to Hedwig's cage, scrabbled to open the padlock, and picked Hedwig up, who hooted indignantly at being unceremoniously dumped from her cage.

"Hedwig, go to Hogwarts" Harry whispered, Hedwig nodded and nipped Harry's ear affectionately and he promptly thrust her out of the window, just as the door slammed open.

"BOY!" Vernon roared.

…..

"Come on Ron, be quiet, if mum hears us, we won't be able to go see Harry." Fred told his younger brother quietly. He and George had fully agreed to help Ron at the time, because it sounded like great fun, and the small bespectacled boy who was their baby brother's best friend was a sweet kid who they were worried about, but they wouldn't be able to come out of this unscathed by their mum if Ron didn't shut up.

"But what if mum find's out, we can't just steal Dad's flying car!" Ron squeaked out pathetically. Fred and George rolled their eyes.

"Of course we can, do you want to rescue Harry or not?" George told of their brother softly. Ron sighed and nodded, resting his arm against what seemed to be a slightly unsturdy pile of boxes. then-

CRASH! Ron had tipped over one of their Dad's containers full of plugs. Everything went silent for a moment, then-

"BOY'S!" Mrs. Weasleys roar could probably be heard from 50 miles away. The twins and Ron paled dramatically. They were not going to be saving Harry any-time soon…


	2. Chapter 2

Warning, child abuse

Chapter 1.

Harry groaned in pain, a pale sheen of sweat glistening on his face as he rolled over midday. He had gotten beaten on the night of the Mason fiasco. Badly. Harry could feel the broken ribs from being slammed into the wall by Vernon, the deep cuts in his back from the belt, and his wrist that had once been broken, being slammed into the door by Dudley, had been rebroken. Additional locks and a cat flap had been placed on his door. Bars that looked like decorative window creations, because Aunt Petunia would never let the neighbors think anything untoward would be going on in her household, had been placed on his window. It had been 3 days since he had gotten any food.

_Shrick_

The sound of a tray being pushed through the cat flap had Harry crawling over to the tray, which held a plastic bottle of water, four aspirin, an unopened, expired can of soup, and a spoon. Harry swallowed one of the aspirin dry, hid the other three in the loose floorboard under the bed, swallowed a few mouthfuls of water and used a sharp chunk of an old glass fish tank that had held Dudley's turtle once, to cut open the can of soup. Harry swallowed greedy mouthfuls of the cold, disgusting brew, with cold chunky vegetables with the soup congealing around it. Harry forced himself to stop, and save half of it. The way the Dursleys' were acting, it was quite possible that they meant to starve him to death, and he had to ration any resources the Dursleys deigned to give him. He crawled back to the bed, thankful that at least Hedwig had gotten away.

…..

Severus Snape was currently very angry. Being one of the only teachers who opted to stay at the school over the summer time, he did not know what to do with the annoying Snowy owl who had deemed it necessary to attack him constantly. No matter where he went, the blasted bird followed, squawking. Finally, after two weeks of the blasted animal, he had given up. He summoned all of the heads of houses from their homes, as this must be some form of prank from a student, none of the Slytherins had a snowy female, and they all knew not to annoy him. They all sat in his quarters.

"Really Severus, what is this about?" Minerva asked him. Severus paced angrily.

"Undoubtedly some idiotic student decided to play a prank upon me." He grabbed the caged owl, his arms cut up underneath his cloak, from wrestling her into one of them this morning.

"This blasted chicken" The owl squawked indignantly at being called a chicken "Has been attacking me for all of two weeks. I demand to know what student owns this owl" Minerva paled.

"That is Potter's bird, but he would never-" Minerva continued talking, most likely commending Potter on all of his attributes. Potter! Of course it would be that arrogant brat! He and his cronies would think it would be great fun to play such a prank on him. So much like his father, the boy would be _proud_. Severus thought scathingly. Well, he would just have to pay Potter a visit.

…..


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2.

Harry was hungry. Scratch that, he was starving. He could barely even move anymore, rather than going back to bed in the evening, he had taken to lying on the floor by the cat flap waiting for his next meal, with his threadbare blanket wrapped around his thin body. Uncle Vernon had not gotten any kinder with his beatings. Harry had so far gotten two more, both just as violent as the first. At this point, Harry might be dead before Hogwarts started.

_Fat lot of good Dobby did for me, at least if I was at Hogwarts, my friends would be around me if I died, no one will try to save me here._ Harry thought bitterly. The only good thing that had happened other than Hedwig escaping was Aunt Petunia refusing to allow Harry's belongings to be burnt, her reasoning for which, being that "those freaks might notice, Vernon." Not for the first time, Harry wished someone, anyone, even Snape or Malfoy, would have noticed Hedwig and come running, unfortunately, no one had. In the distance Harry heard a loud crack, and someone banging on the door downstairs, Harry internally begged the noise to go away, his headache hadn't gone away since the Mason incident, and Vernon wouldn't be pleased that someone was knocking at this time of night. He didn't need any more of Vernons frustrations taken out on him.

"Who would be calling at this time of night?" Harry could hear Uncle Vernon's grumbling as he undoubtedly waddled to the door. A familiar silky voice threaded its way through to Harry's ears.

"Hello, is this the Dursley residence?" Harry sat up. That was Professor Snape!

"We aren't interested in anything you're selling, especially at this time of night!" Uncle Vernon growled angrily. There was a pause.

"I assure you sir, I am not selling anything. My name is Severus Snape I am a professor from Hog-" Undoubtedly Uncle Vernon had slammed the door in Snape's face.

"BOY!" Harry winced. Bloody Hell, couldn't he ever get a break? Snape undoubtedly had left in a fit of anger, and now Uncle Vernon was pounding up the stairs. Harry's door was thrown open.

"So, you thought you could get help from that ruddy bird and that idiotic school of your's now did you?" Vernon's piggy eyes were malicious as he threw Harry against the wall. Harry couldn't even muster the energy to answer, only curled up into a ball against the wall and prayed Vernon wouldn't have much energy to hurt him badly. After a few minutes of Vernon kicking Harry, and Harry refusing to cry out, the man stopped abruptly. Harry risked a glance up and noticed that Vernon was on the ground, Professor Snape in the doorway. Harry gave him a small trembling smile, and croaked out

"Thanks for that." before he promptly passed out.

…..

Severus stood in the doorway of Potter's small room in shock. The boy's uncle had been most unpleasant, and Severus had revelled in the fact that Petunia, the woman, who had once been a girl who had hated him had become merely ordinary. With her absolutely ordinary house, and her ordinary husband, he had thought that Potter would have been properly pampered by the woman, so when the hulking shape of Vernon Dursley slammed the door and had yelled at who he most likely suspected was Potter, Severus had stood shocked for a moment. How dare the ignorant fool slam a door in _his_ face. Severus had performed a simple unlocking charm, and had taken his time in coming in. Well, that was until he had heard loud thumps, muffled grunts and whimpers of pain. Then Severus had sped his pace up and walked swiftly up the stairs, in the direction of the noises. Then he had come upon the most disturbing of sights. Potter on the ground, curled up in the fetal position, while his uncle had kicked him, holding nothing back, showing no mercy. Potter was dressed in overly large, bloodstained clothes, and from the look of him, the boy had been beaten before. Severus could do nothing for a moment, other than feel dual surges of pity and vindictus triumph. On one side, this was Potter's spawn, who deserved this horrid fate, for all the things Potter senior had done to him. But on the other side, this was just a boy who was being hurt by people who were supposed to protect him and love him. Severus finally got control of his faculties, and stunned Dursley. The boy had continued staying curled up into a small ball on the floor, until he had obviously realized that the blows were no longer coming, then he had hesitantly looked up, seen Dursley on the floor, then Severus. The boy's green eyes, so much like Lily's, were glazed from pain, but held relief in them.

"Thanks for that." Severus was mildly shocked that the boy had thanked him, of course, he was not only Potter's spawn, but Lily's as well. But before Severus could reply, the boy had sunk into a dead faint. Severus heaved a long suffering sigh, and picked the boy up into his arms. Potter was abnormally light. Severus could feel the boy's bones sticking out much more than they should for any child and he could feel light ridges along Potter's back, through the thin, worn out rags that the boy probably had called clothes for a long time. Severus was interrupted from his thoughts by a high, shrill tone

"Vernon, what is going on- You!" Petunia had obviously come across the scene. Severus turned on her.

"Hello Petunia, I see you've been treating your nephew well." Severus said in his softest, silkiest, most dangerous tone. She stared at him in horror. Opening and closing her mouth like a fish.

"We didn't want him. He's a useless burden, just like his _parents_." She said waspishly. Severus had a sudden flashback. "_Just like your worthless __**Father **__aren't you, Potter?" _He winced slightly. At the time he had spat out the word father with the same venom Petunia had placed in the term parents. Perhaps he had been too harsh on the boy. Severus silenced her with a lazy flick of his wand.

"I will be taking Potter away from here for the rest of the summer, and I warn you, the boy is well liked within the wizarding world, as he was the one, who allegedly destroyed the Dark Lord. You wouldn't want _my kind _going after you for all the horror's you and your worthless husband have brought upon the boy, now would you?" Petunia paled and started talking, but realized she couldn't say a thing, so clamped her mouth shut. With that, Severus released the spell on her.

"Where is the boy's school things?" he snapped at Petunia. She paused for a moment, as though to tell him off, but he raised his wand threateningly.

"In the cupboard underneath the stairs." She answered reluctantly. Severus swiftly walked out of the small room, summoning and shrinking Potter's things as he went. Once they reached the tiny cupboard and Seveerus unlocked it with a simple _Alohomora_. What he saw took his breath away. A trunk, a pile of school books, but underneath that, a small, dirty child-sized mattress, a ratty blanket, some assorted broken toys and crayons, and finally an old yellowing page, that had spelled out, obviously in a child's hand writing: _Harrys Room_. Severus felt conflicted. The boy who had been an arrogant hotheaded brat, was likely a figment of Severus's imagination. Nonetheless,Potter needed medical attention, he flicked his wand and collected the last of Potter's belongings, then turned to Petunia.

"Potter may not wish to take revenge on you, but I assure you, if he doesn't, I will." And with that he chose the most dramatic, most ominous, and to many wizards, when residing in ones house, rude. He apparated.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this chapter is a bit short**

Chapter 3.

Severus had chosen to keep Potter in his own house, if one could call it a house. The morbid building of Spinner's End was incessantly dusty from Severus being in Hogwarts all year long, and not coming back, due to some bad memories of the place. Severus knew that the money he made from teaching potions would likely give him the ability to move to a new home, but even with the less than savory memories of his childhood, the house was perfectly serviceable, and Severus did not have need of many luxuries. He cast a few scorgify's and cleaning charms as he went along to the dining room. Unfortunately in order to heal Potter, he would have to place him on a harder surface than a bed. Severus laid Potter out on the kitchen table. He then summoned essence of dittany, one, no two tins of bruise balm, and a few other assorted healing potions from the room downstairs that he had converted into a potions laboratory. Severus magically banished Potter's shirt to see the damage. The boy had been beaten to within an inch of his life. Angry, red, and bleeding crisscrosses of welt's marred the boy's back. Then there were the bruises. He could tell the boy had at least 3 broken ribs, if not more, and large purple bruises marred his skin. There was not a centimeter that wasn't covered by them. Severus took a moment to compose himself. This was no time to get overly emotional. Potter needed help, so he would fix it. Severus worked for hours. Apply murtlap essence, apply essence of dittany, watch the skin ripple back over the injury, apply bruise balm, apply other potions as needed. Repeat. When the boy looked mostly like a boy again, Severus finally took the boy to the small sofa in the living room, and spelled a few pain draughts into him, and he himself headed up a floor to his bedroom. Severus was so tired, he fell asleep in his clothes.

…..

Screaming. Severus awoke to screams and whimpers. Who was screaming in his house? He thought for a moment. Potter! The boy must be having a nightmare. Severus got up and walked swiftly (He did not run. Ever.) down the stairs. Potter was thrashing on the couch and muttering words he couldn't quite hear well enough to understand. Severus rushed over to the boy.

"Potter! Wake up" Severus figured that would do it, but Potter just whimpered and continued to thrash. Severus figured that grabbing the boy in this state most likely was not the most cunning of moves, but the boy was going to undo all of the hours of healing his injuries. The boy curled up, continuing that infernal whimpering that pulled at Severus's shriveled heart.

"I didn't do it Uncle Vernon!" He squeaked. Ah. that made sense. Severus tried using Potter's first name.

"Harry! Wake up." Generally Severus was against using first names, as it might ruin his sparkling reputation of being menacing, but this method proved to be effective. The boy's eyes snapped open.

…..


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4.

Harry was dreaming, he knew he must be dreaming. Professor Snape called him by his first name. That wasn't supposed to happen. Harry moved to the other edge of the sofa he was lying down on.

" Ah good Potter, you're awake."Snape's voice filtered into Harry's odd thoughts. Harry squeaked. Wait. Harry didn't squeak. He was 12 years old for Merlin's sake! He wasn't scared of people, especially not Professor Snape. But before this year, Harry hadn't been afraid of Uncle Vernon. The worst Harry had ever gotten from Uncle Vernon until this summer was missed meals and the occasional light beating. This summer had been so much different. Harry had been worried for the summer until he had come up with the brilliant idea that the Dursley's didn't know that he couldn't do magic during the summer.

"Professor? What happened?" Harry croaked out. He wasn't sure how to react to Snape. The man had hated him from before he had ever met him, but Harry hadn't been particularly fair to him after that first class. He still felt guilty for thinking the Professor had been working for Voldemort, but Harry wasn't sure how much he could trust him.

"I came to return your owl to you at your relatives when I found your Uncle- a rather walrus like fellow, don't you think?- hitting a rather comatose person. Do you know who that was, Potter?" Harry sat up.

"Hedwig! Is she alright Sir?" Harry hastily added on a "sir" at the end of his sentence when he saw the man's face darken.

"Yes." Snape answered shortly. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Thank Merlin that she was alright, Harry wasn't sure what he would do without Hedwig.

"Now Potter, why don't you tell me about your relatives." Harry tensed. He wasn't sure how to answer this, he didn't want Snape knowing about his childhood, especially when Snape had thought of him being a spoiled brat.

"Not much to say really. They don't like me very much " He muttered.

"Potter, do not continue with this line of idiocy-" Snape started. Harry felt a sudden flash of anger.

"Don't pretend as though you care about me at all" Harry snapped out " it doesn't matter what my relatives did to me, nobody has ever stopped it before, so why should you of all people, a person who has hated me ever since I stepped onto Hogwarts, mind you, care at all about me?" to his horror, Harry felt his eyes prickle with tears while talking to the Professor. Snape stared at him for a moment before pulling out his wand. Harry tensed. Was he that mad that he would hurt Harry for speaking out of turn? Merlin knew that Uncle Vernon didn't need a reason for hurting him. But rather than point his wand on Harry, Snape summoned a blue shimmering potion, uncorked it and held it out to Harry.

"A calming potion, Potter." Snape explained at Harry's suspicious expression. Harry downed the potion, and didn't even wrinkle his nose at the taste of it. Immediately a wave of calm washed over Harry. He realized how tense he had been before, and he relaxed into the side of the couch.

"Now that you are over that rather obvious tantrum, tell me Potter, why haven't you told anyone?" Harry felt his mouth open without his permission

"Thought everyone knew, and besides 't wasn't bad until th's summer." Harry slurred. He straightened, he didn't want Snape to know that, why had he said it?

"Wha' you give me?" He accused Snape rather mildy. Harry tried to summon anger, but he just couldn't find it in himself to care.

" A Calming draught and a mild truth potion." Snape answered coldly. Harry wondered why Snape was so cold all the time.

"Why did your relative's abuse get so bad this summer?" Snape asked him. Harry wondered why he was so sleepy. And hungry.

"Pr'bly cause Dobby dropped a puddin' on Mrs. Mason's head, an' they learned I can' do magic 'side of school with't getting in tr'ble." Harry noticed his slurring was getting worse. Would Snape let him go back to sleep?

"Dobby?" Snape inquired. Snape. Snnaape. That was a strange name.

"An elf. Didn' know ab't elves 'til this summer. Strange bloke. Th'ght there was danger in h'gw'rts this year." Harry wondered if Snape had food in his strange house.

"Potter, if I gave you a way to stay away from your relatives, would you take it? No matter the person you lived with?" Harry wondered about this for a moment. It was hard to think, kind of like swimming through mud.

"I don' know. I woul' like to stay away from numb'r 4, but if the pers'n I was staying in was jus' as bad as uncl' vern'n I dunno. If the person wasn' gonna hur' me like they did then I guess so." Harry told him. Snape paused for a moment

"Well then Potter, welcome to Spinner's end"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5.

What had Severus gotten himself into? The boy was still under the influence of the calming draught, and happily eating the unsweetened porridge that Severus had given him with very strict instructions to eat it slowly, and not to eat more than ten bites. Severus had seen the boy who he had once been, reflected in H-Potter's eyes, and couldn't just leave the boy back with his relatives. Severus was drawn from his musing's, by a spoon nearly hitting his right ear, and whizzing out the window. Severus ducked and then turned his wrath _how dare he?_ On Potter.

"Potter! Why did you believe in your miniscule brain that it would be a good idea to throw a family heirloom out my window?" The boy's chest was heaving heavily and his eyes were red and puffy. It was rather impressive that he had been able to get the effects of a rather powerful- if he did say so himself- calming draught so quickly.

"You did something to me!" Potter answered defiantly, now standing up from his chair. Severus's first reaction was to force the boy to clean out a particularly nasty cauldron, however, he noticed with some growing alarm that his hands were trembling, although Potter had tried to hide them in the overly large shirt, yet clean shirt Severus had given him. He hadn't shrunk the shirt in case of Potter's wounds reopening.

"Sit down Potter." He told the boy firmly.

"No! Why would I? You'll just drug me up with a potion again!" Potters voice was trembling. Severus sighed. Why did the most ironic things always have to occur to him?

"Sit down Potter. You are obviously suffering from malnutrition and in pain. I will not, as you said previously, 'drug you' again, nor will I harm you while you reside in my house. Now sit!" Potter stayed standing for another moment, looking so very lost and small before him, before sitting stiffly in the firm wooden chair.

…..

Harry felt so very lost. He didn't know what to do. He had just thrown a spoon at Snape of all people, and immediately after doing so, his hands started shaking. Not in anger, like they normally would when Snape had upset him, but in uncontrolled fear. Harry knew that this reaction wasn't normal, not normal at all. Although, what in his life was ever normal? Harry blinked back tears that were threatening to escape. That was the reason everyone hated him, he was too different, even in the wizarding world, no, especially, in the wizarding world, all because he did something he didn't remember doing.

"Potter, We need to talk about the remainder of your stay here." Snape told him, sitting in the chair across the table from him. Harry tensed and stared down at his hands. Was Snape going to send him back to the Dursleys? Could he ask Professor Snape to drop him off at the Weasleys or the Grangers? Could he just go to Hogwarts early?

"I have decided that you should stay with me for the rest of the summer holidays." Harry looked up at this. He wasn't sure how he felt about this. It was probably better than the Dursleys, but who knew when it came to Snape?

"Alright." He said quietly.

"We will need to discuss the rules while you reside here." Snape continued after a nod to Harry. Harry looked at Professor Snape nervously. What if Harry broke the rules?

"Firstly, you will eat three meals a day and any potions that I determine are needed to increase your weight." What? This was something Harry hadn't expected. Professor Snape continued.

"Secondly, you will finish your summer schoolwork, as I assume you have been limited to doing very little. After you have finished your schoolwork, I will check it over. If only to spare the other professors suffering from your idiocy." Harry felt a dual sparks of anger and shame. Harry wasn't an idiot. He just never really worked up to his true potential and he knew it. At first it was Dudley, who told Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon that Harry cheated or stole his homework from him whenever Harry did better than him. Even though it was pretty obvious that Harry was the victim of Dudley, they always believed him, no matter what. Then it was Ron. For the first time in his life, he could have friends, do well in school, with no repercussions from anyone, except after his first transfiguration essay was handed back in, Harry had gotten very close to a perfect score. Ron had become very stiff towards him, and as Harry never had another friend before, he didn't want to ruin the first friendship he'd ever had. Harry once again dumbed down his homework, and once again felt like the only chance in his world to do something with himself, was gone. Harry viciously stamped down the need to explain, the need to snap back at Snape.

"Thirdly, you are to listen to what I say, and follow my instruction. If you fail to follow me or these guidelines, there will be consequences." Harry shivered at that ominous warning. He didn't think that Snape would hurt him, but he had no illusions to the kinds of punishment Snape would give him. All in all, the rules weren't horrible. Yes, Harry was worried about what sort of things Snape would ask him to do, but there was only three weeks left of summer, and Snape couldn't possibly be worse than the Dursley's. Harry took a deep breath.

"Alright."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, sorry for the long wait, but here is the next update!**

Chapter 6.

Severus had finally gotten Potter settled in. It had taken a while to clean up the old spare bedroom, but Potter had seemed quite amenable to sleeping on the couch until the room was better. Severus had given the boy a chore list of fairly simple chores, as he didn't want the boy to strain himself while still recovering, and Potter kept up with the chores fairly well.

In the last two days of living with Potter, Severus had seen a pattern. Potter had been tiptoeing around him and flinching at every little thing. Severus knew that Potter wasn't one to flinch and it was almost depressing to watch the light leaving Potter's eyes every time the boy flinched. Severus almost shouted at the boy when he flinched at a bloody fucking fly, although he was proud to note that he had suppressed that particular urge. The other pattern was that Severus woke at least three times during the night's during Potter's night terrors. Severus was unsure how to help the boy though. He could always introduce a mind healer to the boy, however, it would take a very long time, if not impossible to find one that was not interested in the boy's famous status. During Potters night terrors, Severus always had no other way to wake the boy up other than calling out his name. This was absolutely true in every possible way. Severus had tried to dump a bucket of freezing water, the reviving spell _rennervate_ hadn't even worked. The first night Severus had given the boy a dreamless sleep potion and Potter still had nightmares, it was ridiculous how awful the boy's nightmares were. Severus sighed and wondered what he would do about Potter.

…..

Harry was lying on his new bed right before Snape's appointed bedtime, in a modest but clean bedroom in Snape's old house, hating that Vernon had messed him up so much. Harry realized that he flinched. A lot. He flinched at loud noises. He flinched at unexpected motions. One day he flinched at a bloody fly passing by him unexpectedly. The worst part wasn't even that he knew that it wasn't normal, knowing that it hadn't happened before this summer, it was that Snape knew. Harry knew that it sounded really trivial and whiny, but it sucked that Snape, who, granted was not evil and wasn't responsible for trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, but who had the entire previous school year, been consistently cruel to Harry. Snape had noticed that Harry flinched and had said snide comments to him, every single time. Flinching at the fly had been the worst part. Harry genuinely thought that Snape was going to yell at him or hit him. Harry didn't know how he was going to survive the rest of this horrible summer. Another problem was the nightmares. They were so vivid that every one he had, he screamed, and Snape got up and woke him up every single time. It was almost strange how Snape woke him up and was almost gentle with him for the aftermath. Harry sighed and sent away the rest of his dower thoughts about this summer. Harry got dressed into his pyjamas and slid under the warm sheets, preparing for a new bout of nightmares. Harry wondered if he could just stay awake forever, but he knew that was impossible as he slipped into a deep sleep.

_Uncle Vernon with a nasty smile and a belt in his left hand, piggy eyes glittering maliciously suddenly turned into his Dad_

"_You betrayed us!"_ James's voice sounded exactly like Uncle Vernon's had. Harry felt his throat closing up and tried to say something as fear enclosed his heart with a tight fist. This was different from the other nightmares. He never had dreams about his parents, only Uncle Vernon.

"No, I didn't, Dad, you have to believe me!"

_James Potter raised the belt in his hand, with a hateful grin on his face_

_You killed your Mother and I!" _Harry gulped and tried to scramble back in the dream. He hadn't killed his parents, he hadn't! It had been Voldemort!

"No! I didn't, I swear, Dad!"

"_Harry!" _Harry gulped, that hadn't sounded like Uncle Vernon or this strange version of his Dad. Would this new character become his mum?

"Please don't!" Harry shouted, and to his great relief, the dream dissipated as someone called his name again and Harry snapped from his dream and sat up in his bed abruptly. Snape had been shaking his shoulders, Harry flinched, scrambled back and promptly fell off the bed. Harry groaned as his injuries on his back were strained.

"Ouch" Harry muttered and sat up, gingerly rubbing his shoulder. Harry looked up at Snape to apologize, and stared. Snape was wearing muggle pyjamas. It was strange to see his stern potions master wearing anything but wizarding gear. Snape raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"Awake now, Potter?" Harry flinched and nodded. To his great horror, he felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes, he was NOT going to cry in front of Snape, he was not going to be more pathetic than he already was.

"He turned into my Dad this time." Harry said quietly. He didn't know what made him say it, but he did. At Snapes sharp intake of breath, Harry continued.

"I dunno why though, I don't even have any real memories of him, I only know him by sight because of the pictures Hagrid gave me of my Mum and Dad at the end of school last year." Harry decided to leave out seeing his parents in the Mirror of Erised.

"You have pictures of Lily?" Snape's voice surprised him, Harry looked up.

"Yeah, I have a book of pictures that Hagrid gave to me." A question popped up into his mind. "Hey, did you know my parents? Were you one of their teachers?" As Harry finished asking this last part, Snape choked.

…..

**Early apology: Sorry, school is starting up again for me, so the updates might end up being a bit scarce for a while.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Severus looked down at the wide eyed boy, still sitting gingerly on the floor. How old did the child think he was? He decided to voice his displeasure to the boy.

"How old do you think I am?" Yes, his voice was dripping with just the right level of ice needed to make the boy flinch, although that didn't mean much as the dratted child flinched at every little thing. Potter looked down at the floor, face heating up.

"I dunno, I just never really think about how old my professors are."

"Obviously." Severus decided to take pity on Potter when he noticed that the boy was slumping even further to floor, as if hoping it would swallow him whole.

"I was the same age as your parents. For a time I was friends with your mother, however your father was, less than pleasant to deal with." Severus felt his upper lip curl when he told the boy of Potter senior. Potter's eyes shot straight up to his when Severus had revealed the part about going to school with the boys parents.

"You were friends with my mum?" Potter's voice sounded odd, some mix between an impending doom and a burgeoning hope. Severus sighed, exasperated. Did the boy do nothing but parrot words back to him.

"Yes Potter, I believe I said that." Potter looked back down at his harsh tone and swallowed.

"Do- er, do you think you could tell me about her sometime?" Severus took a step back. He wasn't sure if he wanted to spill the memories he held of Lily Evans to Potter's spawn, however, the boy was also Lily's child as well.

"We will see." The boy nodded, Severus could see a small tentative smile forming on his lips. Severus frowned disapprovingly. The boy should not be smiling so, he had to do something.

"Potter." Said boy looked up.

"Yes sir?" Severus swallowed. This would not be an easy fight.

"You need to go see a mind healer." Predictably the boy frowned.

"Like a psychologist?" Severus nodded. Small wrinkles formed between Potter's brows.

"But I'm not crazy or anything like that." Severus sighed and pinched his nose. The boy obviously did not realize that very often, fairly regular individuals had to see a mind healer, even if it was just for an injury.

"No, Potter you are not, what you are though, is damaged." Potter flinched at the implication and stood up angrily, staring at Severus with those painfully familiar green eyes.

"I am not broken! I'm fine! I don't bloody well need a psychologist, Uncle Vernon didn't break me!" Severus stared.

…..

Harry panted with the amount of willpower he had used to stand up to Snape. It had hurt when Snape said he was damaged. Harry knew that he wasn't broken and hated to think that Uncle Vernon had done anything to change him. Harry stared at Snape from under the fringe of his hair, daring him to say differently.

"He didn't break me." Harry repeated determinedly. Snape with no noticeable change of expression on his face, nodded.

"No, Potter, he did not." Harry stared.

"But, you just said-" The professor cut him off.

"Potter, I said that you had been damaged, not broken. There is a difference, if you had been listening you would have heard the distinction." A flash of annoyance hit Harry.

"I was listening! You said I needed a magical psychologist. You might not have said as much, but you think I'm going crazy or something!"Snape sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Potter, I think you are many things, annoying, irritating, arrogant-" Harry hotly opened his mouth to abuse Snape of that notion, but Snape lifted a hand to stop him.

"but crazy is not one of them." Harry closed his mouth with a snap.

"It is my belief that you may need help to get back to your normal state of dunderheadness." Snape finished. Harry thought about it for a moment, did he really need that much help? He had always faired fine before.

"Professor?" Harry started.

"Yes, Potter?"

"What if I just try to recover on my own first? I don't really think I need someone to fix me yet, just hear me out." Harry said hastily at the darkening expression on Snapes face. "I have you to monitor me for now, and if you really want to get rid of me, I could go to Ron or Hermione's house, and Hermione is great with all that common sense stuff." Snape snorted at that. Harry went on "I think I'm actually getting better, I mean, I just yelled at you, er, sorry about that, but I don't want someone I don't know poking around in my head, trying to fix what they don't know about me." that summed it up rather nicely, Harry thought. Snape stared at Harry inscrutably. If Harry didn't know better, he would have thought Snape had been trying to read his mind.

"Very well Potter, we will try it your way." Harry grinned.

"Thanks, Sir." A thought flew into his head.

"Er, Professor?" A sigh came from the Professor.

"Potter?"

"Would this be a bad time to tell you that a house elf called Dobby has been keeping my mail from me?" A series of loud swear words, some of which Harry had never heard of, came from Snape.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi guys, as requested from **_**Nanettez**_ **I have been a bit quicker in updating this time, sorry about how long its been taking in between the updates, school has been pretty busy!**

**Please let me know if Harry's response wasn't great in this chapter, I'm really trying to make it as realistic as possible.**

…**.**

Chapter 8.

"Hedwig!" Harry called out to his owl with jubilation, as Hedwig made a grand entrance from the kitchen window. He hadn't seen her for what seemed like years. Hedwig cooed at him and landed on his arm. Hedwig didn't generally show affection other than by ways of nipping him, or occasionally, when she was feeling really fond of him, ruffling her feathers. Today, howerever, Hedwig showed Harry, quite possibly the most affection she had ever shown anyone, by grooming his hair.

"You must have been worried about me then?" Harry asked her. Hedwig responded with an affirmative hoot. Harry grinned at her.

"Thanks for getting me away from the Dursleys." He decided to show his thanks by feeding her some of the bacon from off of his plate. From across him, Harry heard a sigh of annoyance.

"Yes, Potter, thank you for that heartwarming display of affection. However, I must insist that your blasted bird stay out of your share of the food. We are trying to make you gain weight, and it most certainly will not work with you feeding the bird all of it. While we are at it, keep the bird out of the dining room." Snape said acidly. Harry felt himself sink into his chair, while Hedwig hooted angrily at Snape, flew off of Harry's arm and swept from the room in as dramatic a manner, an owl could possibly make. Harry felt himself grinning despite himself.

"Sorry, Professor, Er, is the mail problem solved then?" Harry asked, wincing slightly as he remembered how angry Snape had been when Harry had told him about it.

"Yes, Potter, the 'mail problem' as you so eloquently put it, has been solved." Harry nodded. Harry had been getting slowly acclimated to Snape's acerbic nature, so much so that he could almost translate all of it to normal english.

"Great, er, do you think that I could visit Ron?" At Snape's surprise, Harry continued quickly. "I know that Hermione can wait and won't worry so long as I write to her about it, but Ron, well Ron can get a bit impulsive, and seeing as he hasn't heard from me all summer long, well, I wouldn't be surprised if he enlisted Fred and George's help to arrange an escape attempt. Not to mention that Ron can be surprisingly perceptive." Snape stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Potter, you may go to visit the Weasleys" Harry felt his heart lift. He loved the Weasleys, well, all the ones he had met, other than Percy, and even then, Percy could be quite nice. "If you talk about your time with your relatives with me." All of Harry's hopes plummeted like a lead brick.

"But-" Harry hated how his voice came out as a whine.

"Potter, we have discussed that you are unwilling to speak about your time with your relatives with a stranger, however, I am not a stranger." Harry stared, feeling a bit angry. Harry, wouldn't say that Snape hated him now, but the bloke still strongly disliked him, why the bloody hell would the man want to listen to him.

"You want to listen to me prattle and whine about my life?" Harry asked a bit disbelievingly. Snape rolled his eyes.

"No, Potter, I want you to get better, and unfortunately, it will not happen unless you talk about what happened." Harry felt a bit lightheaded.

"But, you promise that I can go visit the Weasley's if I do?" Snape pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yes Potter, as I've already said." Harry nodded. All Harry would have to do would be say a few things about how the Dursleys had been like, and Snape would probably call it good. Harry couldn't imagine Snape cared enough about him to actually want Harry to get everything off of his back.

"Er, could I visit the Weasleys before I talk about it?" Snape sighed once again.

"Potter, if we are going to do this, I will make you talk about your relatives at least three times, surely you do not think me so deluded as to believe that you would have that little to complain about?" Harry felt a rush of anger rising up in him, but Snape continued. "You may visit the Weasleys after our first session." The anger that had been building in Harry rushed out in a breath of relief. Snape would keep his promise then. That was good.

…..


	10. Chapter 10

***Peeks up from under the rock I've been hiding* Sorry it's taken so long to update, er, I should have probably mentioned that during the school season I will be updating very sporadically, I'm still alive and intend on finishing this fanfic, I promise (shoutout to Air-Is-My-Pollution making me realize that people think that I might have abandoned this fic, thank you for liking my fan fic)... so please don't hate me?**

**Chapter 9.**

Later that evening...

Harry entered Snape's dining room hesitantly. Snape was sitting at the table stiffly in his usual dark billowing robes. The table was barren except for the glass of water in the place opposing Snape. Harry thought it was a bit odd that Snape wore wizarding robes all the time when he lived in a muggle town, though granted Snape's house was at least a mile out of the town, but who was Harry to judge?

'Sit down Potter." Harry pulled out a chair across from Snape and sat, feeling very awkward, and as though he was in trouble for something. A silence spread over for an uncomfortably long period of time to where Harry was shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

"Er, so, what are we supposed to do here?" Harry finally broke the silence with his rather stammered out question. Snape smirked thinly.

"Potter, you are supposed to talk." Harry shifted again. Was that it? Snape expected him to just sit there and pour his soul out to him? That was, well that was stupid.

"Er, no offense professor, but, er, how do I know you aren't going to bring up what I tell you and use it against me?" Snape narrowed his eyes.

"Yes Potter. You have my word. Now talk about your time with the Dursleys." Harry shifted again in his chair feeling extremely restless. Was he supposed to just believe Snape? Harry pondered on it for a moment, so far Snape hadn't been so horrible, maybe he could trust him?

"Er- I'm not sure where to start." Snape stared at Harry as though he was stupid.

"Potter, don't be an idiot. Start at the beginning." Harry nodded uncomfortably.

"Er, well they never really liked me-or- well I can't remember a time that they did- like me that is." Harry paused, nervous.

"My first bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs." There, he had said it. Snape's expression didn't change at all. Harry cautiously continued, "I lived there until my eleventh birthday, but it wasn't so bad actually. I was actually disappointed when Uncle Vernon took me to Dudley's second bedroom- he, er, used it as a room where he put all of the toys he didn't want, but didn't want to throw out- because my Hogwarts letters had started to arrive." Snape looked startled at that.

"Letters, Potter?" Harry paused at that. Snape didn't know about that? He kind of figured that the letters were somehow magically generated, but he hadn't been certain until then. Harry was pretty sure that Hagrid would have started a riot if he had known.

"Yeah, er- my Uncle kind of prevented me from getting any of them. Anyway, the cupboard was kind of the first place I remember being. Sometimes I would end up being locked in there by Aunt Petunia- Er- I went without meals a lot before I went to school. I think if it weren't for what the neighbor's would say, I think she wouldn't have fed me at all." Snape stiffened when Harry started talking about his aunt. Harry figured that he should skip past any and all frying pan incidents this time round.

"Er, so anyways, when I started school, I was a bit of an odd duck, the Dursley's had spread rumours about me already to all of the faculty, so I figured the teachers would favour Dudley, but then I realized that Dudley wouldn't really let me have any friends." Harry stopped again. Snape wouldn't know anything about Dudley.

"Er, I dunno if you know this, but Dudley is a bit of a bully. Er, he takes after his parents, and they used to encourage him to bully me around a bit." Snape had nodded stiffly to show Harry he had heard. Harry waited for another minute, for the first time, noticing the glass in front of him and taking a nervous sip of the water.

"Er, So Dudley made sure I wouldn't have any friends in school. I actually liked school, until I realized I wasn't supposed to do better than Dudley. I think it was when I got my first spelling test back in primary school, first grade I think. I can't even remember what I got on it, all I remember was that Dudley got a worse grade than me. He threw a tantrum in front of Aunt Petunia when we got home. I-er- got locked out of the house for the rest of the night. She gave me a really long list of gardening chores that I had to get done before the night was over." Harry stopped again, feeling exhausted. Snape stared at Harry.

"How old were you?" Harry looked up at Snape. He hadn't even realized he had been staring at the glass of water in front of him.

"I was six." Harry wasn't sure, but he felt like he was swaying in his chair. "Look Professor, could we take a break?"

….

Severus stared at the boy in front of him. He was nothing like either of his parents. He was his father's image, he had his mother's eyes, but the boy held no similarity to either. James Potter had been a cruel, spoiled little boy who held grudges easily. Lily Evans was a bright ray of sunshine who held all the innocence in the world. That girl had been kind to everything and had also been overemotional, and was also pampered lovingly by her parents. The boy in front of him was world weary, had been neglected. Severus had no clue who the boy was. This Potter could be lying to him about every single thing that he had said and Severus wouldn't know.

"Potter, you've explained enough for today. Go to bed." The boy pushed back from the table, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor, contrasting against the silence, and staggered to the edge of the dining room.

"Professor? Will I be able to visit the Weasley's tomorrow?" Severus nodded once succinctly. The boy had made a great effort today, and that at the very least deserved to be rewarded. The boy smiled and shakily turned around and left. Severus smirked, Potter should learn at least some vigilance, Severus thought, mildly amused. He had once again placed a very diluted amount of veritaserum, just enough to ensure that the boy would be mildly influenced by the potion, and yet still contain all of his faculties.

**I know I put a lot of stuttering in this chapter, but I figured that this was necessary for the readers to be able to tell how nervous and unsure Harry was telling Snape about his life.**


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